The Benefits of Bamboo Products for the Environment and Our Health
There is nothing that cannot be made out of bamboo!
Bamboo is very popular in Asia and bamboo shoots are in fact the ingredients of many traditional dishes. Bamboo has been used as a foods ingredient in millennial Chinese culinary art since the beginnings and as they have such an enormous territory, many different areas of the country created a great variety of dishes that exist in China today. There are certain types of tea, alcoholic beverages and sugar that also contain bamboo. Even the larva that lives inside the bamboo is edible and is in fact known for been aphrodisiac. In addition, a diversity of valuable medicinal ingredients was discovered in this plant, a fact that is taken advantage of in the fields of medicine and esthetics.
A calmative, tonic fighter
From a medical perspective, it can be used to treat skin diseases or illnesses related to the stomach, nerves, blood vessels, nails and hair and apart from that acts in so many other different ways as a calmative, tonic fighter against poison, arthritis and even flatulence. From a nutritional perspective, bamboo shoots possess fiber, calcium, proteins and many vitamins and if eaten regularly can be very helpful for the digestive system.
One of the fastest growing plants on earth
As bamboo trees are one of the fastest growing plants on earth, they are very convenient to cultivate, as a hundred shoots might grow from one root and it can produce more raw material, than any other tree. In fact, bamboo can grow 10 centimeters per day, making it easier to cultivate it in a sustainable way. And bamboo can be fertilized by its own organic matter, which is why its fertilizer is made out of bamboo leaves.
Bamboo as a product
Other than its significance in food and medicine, the bamboo can also be used to produce hundreds of different products. In China, where the bamboo is part of the culture and history, we see its presence in works and arts over hundreds of years. Even after conventional paper came into existence, bamboo was used to be written or draw on and Samurais wore it, as their armor was made of it.
Today, bamboo is a sign of good taste and sophistication as it has been used by interior designers to create attractive places. But you can do so much more with this material. People have been developing many creative ideas using bamboo such as bicycles, dishes, furniture, roofs, trays, mattresses, airplanes and many other things we wouldn’t have ever thought contained bamboo.
In China, there are stores that exclusively sell products made of bamboo, with more than 300 varieties of products. Those places are constantly studying and making creations using this plant. They have elaborated dozens of products made of bamboo such as shampoos and water purifiers, which are becoming a fashion. Those water purifiers are pieces of bamboo that are burned during a special process. When those pieces are put inside boiling water, the bamboo starts to purify it and if it is used when cooking, it can even eliminate bad odors from the food.
Bamboo can even be used to make clothing. Bamboo clothing is a great alternative to clothing made from synthetic fiber or cotton. It has antibacterial properties as it can absorb three times as much moisture as conventional materials. Consequently, unpleasant odors are prevented. Bamboo clothing is very soft as bamboo naturally contains honey pectin. In addition, bamboo is crease-resistant which saves you the unpleasant chose of ironing. And last but not least, you can reduce your carbon footprint by buying clothing made out of bamboo as the growth of bamboo does not involve any greenhouse gas emissions.This makes bamboo an eco-friendly material and a great alternative to conventional clothing materials such as synthetic fiber and cotton.
So there are lots and lots of things that can be made out of bamboo, and there is much more that is being discovered every day. There is nothing that cannot be made of bamboo; the only limit is our own creativity.
